By Carter McNamara on April 30, 2013
We often talk about good teamwork as everyone getting along and coming together with the same vision. It may sound counter intuitive to say the best way to promote teamwork is through conflict. Teamwork coaching rhetoric often tells us conflict is something to be avoided, but the truth is that a healthy amount of discord […]
By Team Building on January 4, 2012
Employee’s excitement and motivation is at its peak when first hired. However, it is common that after settling into a routine of the daily grind, the excitement and motivation begins to wane. Before that happens the employer has an opportunity to reverse the trend. Parties everyday is impractical but team building days that happen once, […]
By Team Building on October 10, 2011
GROUP DEVELOPMENT Below is an idea for a team building activity focusing on the what happens when new members join a team. Learning Objectives 1. To experience the process and feelings that arise when a new member joins an ongoing group with defined tasks and roles; 2. To explore the coping mechanisms adopted by the […]
By Team Building on June 8, 2011
The emergence of the team idea can be traced back to the late 1920s and early 1930s with the now classic Hawthorne Studies. These involved a series of research activities designed to examine in-depth what happened to a group of workers under various conditions. After much analysis, the researchers agreed that the most significant factor […]
By Team Building on February 15, 2011
To the point, this is a post on what most people call “teamwork.” Bored already? Believe me, I understand. Traditional talk on teamwork is overdone and underused. But the fact remains that most market evolutions rely on a team—somewhere, somehow, some way. And that’s why what happens inside teams, from a Presidential White House Cabinet […]
By Team Building on February 7, 2011
Many leaders and organizations bring in a team building expert when things are going horribly wrong, feel better for a day or two and predictably go back to the same old type of interactions. This approach gives team building a bad name or makes it appear ineffective when it can actually be a powerful tool […]
By Team Building on February 1, 2011
Based on five dysfunctions of a team Patrick Lencioni pinpoints the issue of building a great team and group behavior. “Team building is not complicated”, declares Lencioni, president of his own management consulting firm and author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Watch the short video below hear Patrick’s great advice:
By Team Building on January 21, 2011
This quick team building exercise gets small teams to communicate when they can’t see one another or their progress. Communication is the key to success with this team building exercise Overview The challenge is to take a length of rope and lay it out on the ground to make a perfect square. Throughout the task all […]
By Team Building on January 10, 2011
What separates the greatest teams from the rest is their mix of talents and, crucially their understanding of one anothers’ strengths. When team building there are a number of questionnaires (or psychometrics) that can be used to help teams identify their strengths and preferences. When this information is used to assign roles and tasks true […]
By Team Building on January 6, 2011
Wouldn’t it be good to know that every decision you take over the next 12 months will be the right one. This may sound impossible but there is a way to significantly increase the likelihood of your decisions being correct. The secret is understanding. Without understanding we are very likely to make bad or the […]
Carter McNamara of Authenticity Consulting, LLC, provides organizational development, consultant training and Action Learning services, and is developer of the Free Management Library. [Read more ...]